What Friends Are For
by 8OfClubs
Summary: Not everything is as it seems with Hermione, in the end she will need the help of a true friend. - No good with summaries! Sorry - Story got rushed towards the end... sorry!
1. Chapter 1

Hello everyone! just a couple of things to say, first up – Voldemort is dead, dying earlier on I haven't thought of when or how, because it doesn't factor into the story. But everyone is back for a normal 7th year. Story is OOC although I have tried to keep it in character.  
Also, MS word keeps auto correcting apparation to apparition, I've tried to keep an eye on it, but forgive me if I have missed some.

Short chapter to begin with, but they'll get bigger! I hope you all enjoy

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Hermione could not keep the smile off of her face, today was her 17th birthday, and a Hogsmede weekend too, things could not have worked out better, and today she was going to finally be able to show her parents what they had been paying for all these years. She could finally show her parents magic, and hopefully bring them into her world, the separation from her parents had been horrible to Hermione, she missed them dearly.

Having little friends while in pre-primary and primary school Hermione had developed a very strong bond with her parents, having no one else to play with or confide in, but over the years at Hogwarts they had slowly started drifting apart, and she was desperate to bring them back into her life and fill the void in her heart she felt every day. Even with her new friends, she still longed to go home at the end of each day, and tell her parents the stories of what she had been up to.

Grinning, cheerily at all her well-wishers around her, she couldn't help but notice one boy in particular, sitting right next to her, her best friend of nearly seven years, Harry Potter, looking glum. Giving him a slight bump with her shoulder and giving him a quizzical look, she asked "everything okay Harry?"

Harry instantly molded his face to hide his creased eyebrows and frown "Can we talk later? I don't want to make you late for your parents" He replied trying to give her a smile. Hermione nodded back in response before checking the time, it was quarter past ten, nearly time to make the trek down to the apparation location outside the wards of Hogwarts.

As she stood up she heard a sigh, turning to look at her other best friend Ron Weasley.  
"I don't see why you have to go! You should spend your birthday having fun with your friends! Not running off to see your parents" Ron said.

Hermione stared at him for a second before shaking her head. Ron was a great guy, if a little insensitive and he didn't always understand Hermione's situation. Having all your brothers and your sister at school with you while away from your parents wasn't the same. He just didn't understand, and Hermione was not about to let this affect her day, she would try and explain it to him again later, but it was now time to go. With a quick bye and a wave over her shoulder she left the Great Hall.

Having passed her apparation test earlier in the holidays, and with a little practice Hermione was confident in her ability and already knew the precise locations of where to leave from and where to arrive. You wouldn't expect anything else from Hermione.

For September it was a nice day, the sun was out shining, but the weather had cooled down enough so it wasn't too hot, luckily. The excitement had gotten the better of Hermione and she took off in a run once she reached the grounds of Hogwarts, had it been warmer and she would have arrived at her parents a terrible sweaty mess. She could feel the wards protection slipping as she stepped through them, and instantly spun, recognizing the tight feeling as she travelled through space, arriving safely in her back garden, hidden by trees and fences.

Smoothing down her hair, she stepped out and walked into her house, "Mum! Dad! I'm here!" she shouted, quickly moving from room to room till she saw her mother's familiar frizzy brown hair from over the sofa in the lounge room.  
She was instantly enveloped in a tight hug from both her parents. Hermione had written them previously explaining now she was of age she could come and visit them, and to show them a piece of her world.

Hermione wasted no time in this, within minutes she was showing her parents how she could summon items to her, levitate them in the air, even transfigure them into other items. Her parent's smiles told her all she needed to know, they were pleased, proud and very happy.  
"look at this mum" she said, pointing her wand at her hair, the tip of her wand glowed golden for a few seconds before Hermione's hair instantly grew longer, till it fell to her hips, dead straight from all the wait. Her mother gasped and her father laughed heartily along with Hermione before she turned her hair back to its normal state.

Suddenly they could hear a great whooshing sound, Hermione's parents looked at her expectantly, thinking she was performing more magic for them, only she wasn't. A letter shot through the room, and levitated in front of Hermione's face, she instantly recognized the Ministry of Magic's wax seal.

Confused she reached out and opened the letter;

Dear Miss Hermione Jean,

We have received intelligence that you have performed several spells, including but not limited to Accio, Reparo and Windgardium Leviosa, between the times of 10:30 and 10:40 of this morning in a muggle-inhabited area in the presence of muggles.  
Please await the arrival of Ministry Personnel.

Regards,  
Mafalda Hopkirk.

Hermione froze, she felt as if her insides had dropped several centimeters, her heart was racing "There's been a mistake" she murmured. She looked up at her parents, they both looked worried.  
"The ministry of magic has sent me a letter, saying that I have performed under age magic!" Hermione explained, "They must have forgotten to remove the trace!" She rationalized, but had no time to explain further to her parents, as there was a severe banging sound on the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Gathering their bearings the Grangers walked together to the front door, Hermione knowing it would be the ministry official, and her parents wanting to support their daughter, even if they didn't know what was going on. Sucking in a deep breath Hermione opened the door, to see a relatively young looking woman, Hermione guessed she would have just recently left Hogwarts, or whichever school she attended. The woman looked up at Hermione, putting on what she supposed was meant to be a professional but friendly smile, "Miss Hermione Jean?" the woman inquired.

Hermione had lost her nerve, and couldn't find the words to respond, she simply nodded, stepping back from the door, allowing the woman to walk through, leading her back into the lounge room, where her wand sat still on the coffee table. The woman spotted it instantly, and moved to pick it up while introducing herself. "I am Melissa Eatons, and I presume this is the wand that was used to perform the spells in question?" she asked, holding it up firmly to be seen by all in the room, but away from everyone, as if she expected someone to make a grab for it.

"Miss Eatons, I'm afraid there has been a terrible mistake" Hermione began, finally finding her voice. "You see, I turned of age today, it's my birthday, you must have simply forgotten to remove the trace from me" Hermione continued. Melissa simply shook her head and gave a small tsk sound.  
"The Ministry of Magic does not simply forget to remove the trace" She said, emphasising the word simply and talking to Hermione as if she were but a small child. "The trace essentially dies once a witch or wizard reaches of age, at the age of 17 you become slightly stronger with your magic, enough to fight the trace out of you, so to speak" she continued smugly, even with her stumbling words, as if she was making it up as she went along.

Luckily Hermione's mum had figured out enough of what was going on and had the sense to fetch Hermione's birth certificate. She marched back into the room, waving it around proclaiming "Look here missy! Don't you go calling my girl a liar!" and shoving the certificate into the witch's hand.

"Granger?" The woman asked, looking up at the three rather intimidating faces of the family, "I see, there seems to be some sort of-" the woman paused, looking mightily embarrassed "error, I'll need Miss-" she paused again to look at the certificate in her hands "Miss Granger to come with me to get this sorted out".

Melissa stuck out her arm to Hermione and looked at her expectantly, she begrudgingly took Melissa's arm in her hand and in the blink of an eye the two were gone, re-appearing in a busy room of the ministry.

It was chaos, people were running everywhere carrying stacks of parchment, other pieces of parchment were flying overhead through the air in all kinds of directions, and people were calling out to one another across the room, some even using charms to ensure they got heard clearly. Hermione couldn't help the look of disdain that graced her face, as much as she respected some people in the ministry and those of authority, it was no wonder there were so many blunders in the magical world. No wonder she was being dragged from her parents over their mistake.

Melissa walked quickly through the halls barking orders left and right, Hermione struggled to keep up without having to run. Before long they burst through a pair of doors, into the first peaceful room Hermione had seen, there were a few desks lining the walls, and a few people sat behind them, paused momentarily to look at Hermione and Melissa before turning back to their work. The two walked through the office and into another set of doors at the end.

The man in this room was a very stern looking man, and it looked as if he did not appreciate the interruption.  
"What is the meaning of this Miss Eatons?" he barked. Melissa on the other hand continued walking closer to the desk, bending over and whispering into the man's ear, frantically gesturing towards Hermione.  
"Get the blasted test done then woman! Find out who she is and don't bother me!" he snarled back, Hermione ever so curious stepped forwards to speak, but she was instantly pulled away and dragged once again through many corridors, Melissa barking orders all around her once more.

Hermione began to panic, what was going on? What tests were they talking about? What did any of this have to do with her? Something was obviously wrong, and Hermione did not have an answer for her own questions, and no means to find out, as Melissa was in no mood to respond to her. After what felt like a good ten minute brisk walk, Hermione was out of breath having been dragged everywhere and was glad to have a rest, the room around her reminded her of a muggle hospital, it was all very white and clean, though it did not have the distinctive chemical smell.

Her musings were interrupted when Melissa finally decided to fill her in on what was happening, "We are unsure of why the trace is still on you, so we are going to conduct a small blood test and hope that will give us some answers" she said, before forcing Hermione into a chair. Seconds later a medi-witch appeared, brandishing her wand and giving a reassuring smile to Hermione.  
"This won't hurt at all" she promised, holding her wand to Hermione's forearm and a vial nearby.

Hermione's arm began tingling, and as she looked down she could see the medi-witch slowly and carefully guiding her blood, through a cut she hadn't felt, into a vial. The medi-witch smiled again, before Hermione slowly closed her eyes, succumbing to the tiredness she had not felt before.


	3. Chapter 3

Hermione slowly awoke, she felt groggy and her head was aching. She remembered sitting in the medi-witch's chair, having her blood removed, but that was it. Had the witch taken too much blood? Causing her to faint? Or had she been put under a spell? Or maybe, had her memory been tampered with? Hermione wasn't sure, all she knew, was that the light in this room was too bright.

She slowly raised her arm to cover her eyes, when she heard a small sigh, "You're awake" a familiar voice said softly. Hermione turned her head, still shielding her eyes, to face the woman she respected more than any other witch, Headmistress McGonagall.  
"Why don't you sit up dear, you are in for quite a shock" she said, the words took a minute to gain meaning to Hermione, but she slowly sat up, feeling better quickly.

Before Hermione could kick her brain back into motion, her headmistress began talking again, "your parents and I decided that I should be the one to tell you this, though I'm not certain it is my place, and I'm not sure I know where to begin." The older woman said, taking a deep breath, "You have been placed in a magical sleep my dear, it has been a couple of days, it seems everyone is still worried about You-Know-Who and thought it best not to take any risks until this situation was resolved" she continued gravely.

"You see, the trace was not removed from you, as you were in fact, at that point in time, not 17" Headmistress McGonagall said, raising a hand to stop Hermione interrupting. "This is hard for me to say my dear, and I'd prefer it if we left any questions till then end." She paused for a minute, taking a few breaths, Hermione was sure she heard her say something about Gryffindor courage under her breath.

"It appears that you are not who you think you are. It's a long story, but when you were first born, your parents went to a muggle hospital, the same one that Dan and Emma Granger went to, you were born a day later, the 20th, not the 19th. You my dear, are not Hermione Jean Granger, but Hermione Jean Parkinson. The doctors made a mistake, put the wrong Hermione in the wrong crib, only a day apart, no one would have been able to tell the two of you apart, it is no one's fault, and we are all very sorry"

Hermione stared at McGonagall "You mean to tell me, as a baby, I was taken to the wrong crib, taken into the wrong family…" she said, trailing off at the end, watching in stunned silence as the older woman nodded her head.

"The real Hermione Granger, if you'd like to call her, was taken into the Parkinson family, but unfortunately soon put up for adoption, they thought she was a squib." The headmistress said, as if that was a perfectly good reason to give away your child, but she didn't say anything.

"I don't want to be a Parkinson" Hermione said, slowly, pain evident in her voice. The headmistress only smiled and responded "I wouldn't want to be either, but unfortunately what's done is done. Your trace has been removed, however, as the eldest Parkinson daughter, these become your responsibility" handing Hermione two scrolls of parchment, "at least you still have some form of a choice, I'll leave you for a few minutes to let everything sink in". She finished, before walking out of the room.

Confused Hermione opened to two scrolls, and a loud scream could soon be heard throughout the halls. Hermione then knew, that life was not fair. The scrolls in her hands, were what is known as an optional marriage contract, she had the choice of two suitors, if, they chose her. Her choices were none other than Malfoy and Harry.

Hermione's first thought was to screw the whole thing, this was not her family, this was not her responsibility, even with her name printed at the top, they could not do this to her, she had only met their daughter once. Now her sister apparently. She shook her head. Feeling compelled to read more, she did. And that's when she knew life wasn't fair. The conditions. There were always conditions. If she failed to marry one before her 18th birthday, she would lose all magic and all memories of magic. Lose the last seven years of her life. Lose her only friends.

She was officially in a predicament, there was no way she could ask Harry to marry her, not a chance in hell she would ever go near Malfoy, but she couldn't say goodbye, she would have nothing in the muggle world, too old for school, no muggle education to get her a job or to survive, no money for a house, she couldn't rely on her mum and dad… Well, the Grangers really. Hermione didn't know what to do. So she did the only thing she could, she cried. It was a horrible, heart wrenching sound, coming from deep within herself. Curling into a ball, Hermione gripped her sides, as if hugging herself, trying to hold herself together as her world fell apart.

There was soon a soft knock on the door, and Headmistress McGonagall let herself back in, looking sadly upon her poor student, she knew Hermione had already suffered enough in her time, going from bullying in one school, to bullying in another, fighting a war against her and her best friend, and now, finding out the bullying and war weren't against her, she was bullied mercilessly by people who thought they were better than her, yet, they couldn't even tell she was one of them.

"It's time to head back to Hogwarts Miss Gra- er, Parkinson" Hermione was told, before the Headmistress offered a gentle hand to help her stand up, before apparating back outside the wards of Hogwarts. "May I suggest talking to Mr Potter? I know he has been waiting to talk to you" she said before walking off into the school, Hermione trailing behind slowly.


	4. Chapter 4

I'm not going to lie, I did end up rushing this story, I was so keen for it in the beginning, when I started writing it weeks ago, but I soon found myself distracted and forced myself to finish it, so I could upload it today - I hope its not too horrible!

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Find Harry. Find Harry. Find Harry. It was like a mantra in her head. Find Harry. Hermione was too busy thinking about finding Harry she hadn't realized she had walked all the way up the castle and up to the 7th floor, she didn't remember saying the password to The Fat Lady's portrait, but here she was standing in Gryffindor common room. Find Harry, she thought, she felt like her brain was shutting down, but she saw him, sitting in a chair by the fire place, talking to Ginny Weasley.

"Hermione!" He shouted running up to her and pulling her into a hug. "Where on earth have you been?" he asked. Hermione could feel the tears leaking down her face, she heard Harry's voice change into one of concern, as he pulled her into a tighter hug, saying a chant of his own "You're okay 'Mione, you're okay". Hermione could only shake her head, her tears falling faster again, rendering her speechless. She handed him the two scrolls of parchment, which had never left her hands since she was given them.

Harry quickly scanned them both, and with a sigh reached into his pocket, pulling out another two pieces of parchment, very similar to her own. Harry held them out in front of him towards her. Wiping away her tears she looked at them, and instantly recognized what they were. Harry had his own contracts. One was hers, the other was Ginny's. Hermione raised her eyes to look at Ginny, but the tears obscured her vision, she could not see clearly, but Ginny did not look happy.

"I didn't know you were a Parkinson" Harry said awkwardly. Hermione couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped her.  
"Neither did I, I don't want to be, I just want to forget it all" she replied "That's why I've been away" she began explaining, before her emotions got the better of her. She threw her arms around Harry, burrowing her head into the crook of his neck, "I can't do this Harry, what do I do?"

"Well, Hermione, it doesn't look like we have much of a choice. I'm not letting you anywhere near that bastard Malfoy" Harry said. "I was going to accept Ginny, but, she doesn't have the same conditions as us, she will be ok. We won't have to tell anyone about the contracts, or the Parkinson business, I promise" He continued changing from aggressive to soothing in the blink of an eye.

Hermione's mind was blown. "You'd do that for me?" she asked.  
"What are friends for?" Harry responded with a cheeky grin "If not to protect each other from murderous assholes". The two laughed together for a few seconds, before Harry mentioned he needed to talk to Ginny. Taking Hermione's hand he led her over to the younger girl, and they retook the seat he had previously occupied.

Ginny looked furious.

"About the contract Gin, I know you think this is what you want, you think you want to be with me, but really, you're more like a sister to me than anything else. You'll be ok, but I need to marry Hermione." Harry began, trying to let Ginny down easily, it was no secret that she had been harboring a crush on Harry for many years.

"What do you mean you need to marry her? What about me?! What does she have that I don't?" Ginny yelled out, not caring about her volume and drawing a large amount of attention to the group. Ginny was furious. Harry and Hermione shared a look, this was not going to be easy, especially since Hermione didn't want anyone to know about her being a Parkinson, she needed to come to terms with it on her own before she allowed anyone else to know.

Harry gave a great sigh, and responded in a hushed tone "this isn't about what Hermione has that you don't, this is about what you have that Hermione doesn't"

"And what is that?" Ginny spat back viciously, the Weasley temper was strong with this one.

"A choice" Harry said, sneaking a glance at Hermione, he knew he was hitting a bit close to the contract, though if Ginny weren't so angry she could probably figure it out for herself, she should know that Harry didn't have much of a choice either.

"Everyone has a choice Potter. You've made yours, I hope you're happy" Ginny spat back before stomping off in the direction of her dormitory.

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Harry had felt bad at that moment, but in the following years he knew he had made the right choice. Hermione had always been his best friend, and who better to marry than your best friend?

They had been married for six wonderful years, spending the first year courting, and marrying just before Hermione's 18th birthday, her secret of being the Parkinson's eldest daughter spread like wild fire once Pansy found out, luckily no one had treated Hermione any different – well, no one important anyway. The Slytherins were suddenly all a lot nicer to her, Hermione knew it was only because they didn't know of the contract though, but she didn't care, they had made their choices long ago, and they had done too much for a hushed sorry and excuses to make a difference.

The couple now lived in the Potter Mansion, which had been disclosed to Harry once married, and they had many children together, joking they would out do the Weasley family, and they were getting close.

Lillian Jean Potter had been born shortly after their wedding, they had not been very careful during their courting stage.

With magic Hermione had healed very well, and a short 10 months later James Lupin Potter had been born.

Next came another baby boy, Sirius Dobby Potter, the couple had been unsure if it was really appropriate to name their child after their elf friend, but thought it would be an insult to his memory to simply name a pet after him.

Then came Luna Elsie Potter and Violet Nicole Potter, all children, bar the twins were born within a year of each other, Hermione only having approximately one month off between each child. They soon realized that having six children not of Hogwarts age was hard work, and Hermione finally relented on her no house-elf rule, as long as they were treated as Dobby was.

Life was good.


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